The weekend was here. Robin told Celeste that she only needed a couple more days to finish her bathroom and then she would be able to return to the farm. Celeste was excited and got to work on baking a salmonberry pie for that evening. She also got some parsnips that she harvested from her farm and headed to Pierre's to buy more veggies to make dinner for Robin and her family. Life in this town was turning out better than she expected it. She was treated with kindness and she looked forward to each day.
She also looked forward to possibly running into Shane this weekend. She didn't know what his weekend activities consisted of, but she hoped he had more interests than just drinking. To her delight, she found him at Pierre's, looking at the stocked shelves and picking out some groceries for himself.
"Hey Shane!" Celeste excitedly spoke, almost too excitedly because Pierre looked up from his cash register in amusement.
He didn't turn to look at her. Maybe he didn't hear me?
She went up to him and touched his arm, smiling, hoping he'd turn around to face her. Slowly, he turned his head, looking towards the ground, and said, "You're really persistent..."
Taken aback by his response, considering how sweet he was last night, or so she assumed, she faintly said, "What do you mean?"
He sighed and turned back to face the shelves. "I guess I'm just surprised that anyone would be interested in talking to me."
She smiled again, stepping in his line of sight. She was face-to-face with him, as he was maybe just an inch taller than she. "Why is that a surprise?" Her face looked closely at his, analyzing every detail. He had a 5 o'clock shadow, his hair was a very dark brown and messily pushed to the side. He had heavy bags under his eyes that looked like they weighed a ton. But when he smiled, it was sweet.
Shane's cheeks started to get rosy as she stood just inches away from him. "Agh, I gotta go." He dropped what he was carrying back on the shelf behind Celeste and made his way towards the saloon.
Rejected, Celeste felt embarrassed, especially once she noticed Pierre staring at her. She grabbed what she needed from the shelves and left his store, heading back to Robin's to cook dinner for the evening.
Robin was out in the mountains, gathering samples with Demetrius when she came home to a wonderful aroma. She made way to the kitchen and saw Celeste cooking, lost in a trance.
"Celeste! How wonderful…" Celeste, startled by this, jumped up with a small squeak and started feeling so embarrassed. "Oh Robin! It was supposed to be a surprise. As a thank you….for all you've done for me!"
Robin started to tip-toe backwards and said, "Oh, a surprise? Let's just pretend I didn't see this then!" as she grabbed Demetrius by the arm and made her way back outside.
Sebastian was at Sam's house, hanging out with him by the river. They were both seated on the ground, shoulder-to-shoulder, with Sam playing his GameToy and Sebastian smoking a cigarette.
"Oh no, oh no! Ugh, I can never get passed this level!" Sam wasn't very good at games, but he tried, and that was endearing enough. Sebastian rolled his eyes, flicking the ashes onto the ground.
Sam, smiling, put his console on the ground next to him and looked at Sebastian. "So, dude…"
Sebastian slightly turned his head and moved his eyes to look at Sam. "Yeah?"
Moving forward, Sam lowered his voice and said, "That new farmer, what do you think?"
"Celeste?"
"Yeah!" Sam was smiling a big goofy smile, his blonde hair spiked straight up with more hair gel than any one person ever needed, his blue eyes focused on Sebastian, waiting for his response.
"She's cool."
Sam slumped down. He knows that Celeste had been staying with Sebastian's family for a few days now and expected a little more of a response than that.
"She's really stunning," Sam said, nudgingly. "Yeah, I guess," Sebastian responded, trying to get Sam to drop the subject. He finished his cigarette and dropped it on the ground next to where his boot was, smashing it as he stayed sitting against the tree, his shoulder still against Sam's.
Sam picked up his GameToy once again and said to Sebastian, "Well, I think she's super cute."
Celeste didn't know that it was kind of a routine for Sam to come over and spend the night with Sebastian, joining his family for dinner, on Saturdays. Right as she finished cooking and got dressed into something a tad more formal, Sebastian walked in with Sam, the blonde excitedly talking to Sebastian about the game he finally was able to beat.
Sam noticed that Sebastian stopped dead in his tracks and looked up to see what he was staring at: Celeste was wearing a soft red dress with yellow daisies on it, low cut enough to show the beginnings of where her breasts met. Her dark hair was in a loose braid to the side and she was wearing mascara and light blush on her cheeks. Sam's jaw dropped slightly. Yeah, she's really stunning, he thought.
Robin and Demetrius walked in behind them, the redhead pretending to be surprised. "Ooooh, Celeste! What's going on here?" She winked.
As if it was just some strange coincidence, Maru walked into the kitchen area right as Celeste opened her mouth. "I made you all dinner, as a thank you for your hospitality."
Sam felt weak in the knees.
Robin, with fake enthusiasm that only Celeste could pick up on, spoke again, "That is SO sweet. Isn't she so sweet, Sebby?"
Sebastian glared at his mother, who always seemed to find the best ways to humiliate him in front of people.
The family gathered at their dinner table, pulling two extra chairs, and eating the food Celeste slaved over the stove for.
"These parsnips are very delicious," Maru said, her finger in the air matter-of-factly.
After dinner, Celeste served them the salmonberry pie that she had made earlier in the day, cooled from the fridge. Everyone was stuffed, but wanted seconds to what they described as the best way they've ever had salmonberry before.
As the night started to wind down, Sebastian made way to his room in the basement and started setting up to play Solarian Chronicles: The Game. Sam was still in the kitchen as Celeste was cleaning up, something she offered to do as a continued thank you. Maru had gone to her bedroom for an early night in and Robin and Demetrius also went to their room, not explaining why, but nobody had to ask.
Sam was foolishly staring at Celeste as she cleaned up. "So, how's it going?" Celeste turned around to look at Sam who was blushing as he spoke. Celeste smiled, before turning back around to finish the dishes. "What do you mean?" she said.
She started drying her hands on a nearby towel, and turned back around to face Sam, who was beginning to panic. "Uh…"
Sebastian called from his room, asking Sam to join him for the game. Before Sam left the table, he said to Celeste, "Well, we're gonna play Solarian Chronicles…it's kind of like a role-playing game. I was wondering if you'd like to join us." As Celeste nodded in delight, Sam's face lit up and he grabbed her hand, leading her down to Sebastian's lair.
Sebastian was sitting on the ground with a board game, cards, multiple dice of different number sides, and small figurines set up on a short table in front of him. He was sitting cross-legged, holding a blue bong up to his face.
Celeste then started to notice the smell in the room. A smell she hasn't smelled since before she got together with Dallas. She often smoked cannabis to deal with her anxiety, but Dallas forbid it, being against that illegal shit, something she found completely hypocritical regardless of legality due to his alcohol abuse.
Sebastian's eyes were wide. He wasn't sure what to think of Celeste finding this out about him. She seemed to not mind that he smoked cigarettes, how would this be any different? He glanced at Sam's hand as it held on to Celeste's. Sam was very happy. Maybe he should just leave her for him?
Sam opened his mouth almost to shout, "She wants to play with us, dude!"
"Ok, ok, shh dude. Celeste," he turned to look at her, "do you know how to play?" She responded in what almost sounded like a sultry tone, "No. But I'd like you to teach me."
Sam let go of her hand and ran to sit cross-legged next to Sebastian. He grabbed the bong from Sebastian and took a deep toke. His hyper energy was slowly settling down.
He passed the glass figurine to Celeste across the table as she now sat; she was hesitant at first before she took a hit. It was warm, and she felt it travel into her mouth and down her spine, burning her throat at first, before soothing the rest of her body. She was sore from working on the farm and in the kitchen, and she felt the drug slowly calm her senses.
Sebastian and Sam were both staring at her. Maybe it was because she closed her eyes and dropped her head backwards, almost moaning after she took that hit. She sat there in silence for a while, enjoying the feeling wash over her body.
Sam then looked at Sebastian, who didn't take his eyes off of her. Yeah, he totally likes her, I don't know why he felt like he needed to lie to me, Sam thought despondently. It didn't take much for Sam to get back up from feeling down, as he said, "Let's play!"
"Ok, Celeste. We've got three characters here: the warrior, the healer, or the wizard. Which one would you like the play as?" Celeste quietly examined her options, and then in a soft voice said, "Healer. I prefer to help others."
They played for an hour, passing the water pipe around, before they reached the final boss. After finishing the campaign, they started to feel sleepy and Sebastian went to his bed, as he started up a movie. "Uh…I'm going to change into my pajamas. I'll be right back." Sebastian walked up the steps and into the nearby bathroom.
Sam, turning to Celeste, too high to realize what he was about to do, said to her, "You're beautiful." "I'm what?," she embarrassedly said, wanting to look away but keeping her gaze in Sam's blue eyes.
"What I meant to say is, I think Sebastian thinks you're beautiful. I'm pretty sure he has a thing for you."
Celeste blushed, and definitely started to look away at this point. Sam leaned closer to her, trying to get her to look back at him, "What do you think of him?"
Before she could answer, Sebastian entered the room again, donning black pajama bottoms with frogs on them and a black top with one of the same frogs in the center. A little embarrassed by his pajamas, he said to them, "It was a gift, ok? It's my only clean pair right now."
Sam excitedly went to the bathroom next, taking a shower and changing into his. While he was away, Sebastian sat on the bed, crossing one leg under him, sitting close to Celeste. Usually he wouldn't be this bold, but Yoba, he was stoned. He started to brush his finger up against her arm, smirking softly while looking at her hands, which laid softly on the lap of her dress. Celeste's eyes went from his hands to his face. He slowly looked up at her, keeping his gaze at her rose-pink lips for a while, before darting up to her sage green eyes. Her pupils were dilated. He was beginning to close the distance between them, when-
"Phew. I'm ready to hit the hay. Did you guys still wanna watch that movie?" Sam burst into the door at the top of the staircase, his blonde hair no longer gelled up and falling to his chin.
Celeste stood up and said, "I gotta…shower and change. I'll be right back." She nearly ran up the stairs as she made her way out of Sebastian's room.
When she returned, Sam and Sebastian were sitting right beside one another on Sebastian's bed, space being vacant to Sam's left for Celeste. They each sat up against the wall, starting a movie that none of them were awake enough to finish.
Ten minutes into the film, and Sam was lightly snoring. Celeste looked at him and then at Sebastian, both of them laughing in a whisper.
"Maybe we should just get to bed," Sebastian said. Sam, who was sleeping across Sebastian's bed, needed to be moved though.
As Celeste picked up Sam's feet, Sebastian picked him up by his arms, and they quietly moved him to the sleeping bag set up on the floor that Sam usually sleeps in.
Celeste was about to leave to Maru's room for the night when Sebastian opened up his mouth, thinking to himself, this might be my only shot, just go for it!, "Would you like to…finish the movie with me?"
So there they were, Celeste and Sebastian, sitting a mere inch apart, in Sebastian's bed, watching a movie. Sebastian felt his high fading off and he started to feel like this was a bad idea. He hardly knew Celeste and he had no idea how she might feel for him. He doubted she would ever reciprocate his feelings. He hadn't been in a relationship for awhile, so he wasn't sure he knew how to do this...
Their feet were dangling off the bed, and Celeste started to wrap her foot around Sebastian's. Sebastian was sobering up and beginning to sweat. Sam is in the room! Nothing can happen!
He stretched his body out in a yawn and said, "Celeste. I'm really tired. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" Celeste looked at him and her mouth slowly picked up in a cute smile. She got up and made her way towards the staircase, before turning around to say one last thing to Sebastian.
"I'll see you in the morning, Sebby."